The Perfect Kiss (28 page)

“What have I done?” she whispered in despair.

Zach’s eyes looked dazed and haunted, but he said, “It’s okay. I’m all right.”

“You are mine now, Anya.” The voice spoke from the shadows of the landing. Anya lifted her gaze, but she could see nothing, only a faint glimmer of movement in the dusky light. Where was he? Oh, God, where was he?

“Can you deny how much you still want it?” the voice demanded. “Can you deny how your body craves it? You’ve tasted it now, Anya. You can’t live without it. You’ve taken from him what I’ve taken from you. Finish him off. Replenish yourself. Do it!”

Anya put trembling fingers to her lips. Her body raged from the denial, from the torment of so very small a taste. She couldn’t deny Gershom’s charges. She was weak from the blood he had taken from her. She was hungry, starving. But she would not take what she needed so desperately. Not from Zach. Not from the only person who had ever loved her.

“No,” she whispered. “I won’t.”

Then, as though he’d been waiting for her answer, Zach swung around to face the stairs. “You’ve lost this time, you bastard,” he called to the darkness. “Why don’t you show yourself instead of hiding in the shadows?”

“Zach, no,” Anya cried, but it was too late.

With a stir of dust, a shimmer of cobwebs, a whisper of air, Gershom stood before them, and Anya began to tremble again.

He was no taller than Zach, but very thin and gaunt, hardly more than flesh and bones. There was no mistaking his power. He dominated his ruinous surroundings with a kind of perverted charisma. His eyes glowed crimson in an alabaster face, and when his lips curled upward, his teeth gleamed like ivory in the darkness.

“So you dare defy me.” His voice was low and cunningly seductive. He stepped around Zach, avoiding the dim illumination of the skylight, to see Anya. She averted her gaze, but she could feel his pull, tearing at her resolve, ripping through her defenses. “Anya, look at me.”

“Leave her alone, damn you,” Zach said, his voice just
as low, just as menacing, but Anya alone knew what he was up against. Zach did not.

Gershom spared him barely a glance. He held out his hand to Anya, and she could see the gleam of a ruby on his finger. The bloodstone drew her gaze, mesmerized her with its flashing facets. “Come to me, Anya,” he whispered.

Against her will, Anya slowly lifted her gaze.

“Don’t look at him!” Zach shouted.

Anya’s eyes flew to Zach’s. For a moment, their gazes touched, lingered, and Anya felt the light growing stronger inside her. “Zach…” she whispered.

Gershom’s features changed. The smooth porcelain skin seemed to crack, to age, to grow more hideous with his rage. He opened his mouth, and the bestial sound he emitted froze Anya’s blood.

He struck, quick and hard, barely stirring the air with his movement. But Zach went sailing through the air. He landed on his back, his head banging against the floor. Anya started toward him, but Gershom whirled, pinning her to the spot with his red glare. She couldn’t move!

Zach struggled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head. He looked dazed, but more determined than ever as he moved toward Gershom.

The vampire laughed. His lips twisted upward, showing his ghastly fangs. In a blur of movement, he grabbed Zach, his skeletal fingers encircling Zach’s neck. “You’re worthless,” he spat. “You’re nobody. Your own mother despises you. Your father hates you. You killed your own brother. Do you think you are worthy of someone such as she?” he demanded.

“Yes,” Zach said, struggling against the vampire’s hold. “I am.”

His answer enraged Gershom even more. “I could break
your neck,” he said, grinning. “I could break your neck without so much as blinking an eye.”

“No!” Anya cried.

Gershom’s head swung around at her cry, and Zach broke free, swinging upward with his fist. The blow glanced off Gershom’s jaw. He flung Zach aside with one hand, and this time Zach crashed into the stairs. The rotting boards splintered beneath his weight, and a cloud of dust rose in the air.

Gershom was on him in a heartbeat. His fangs were bared as he moved his mouth downward, toward Zach’s neck. All his energies were concentrated on his hate, on his rage, and the bloodlust driving him.

Anya found herself free from his hold. She could move again. She could think. She could feel. And what she felt was a terror unlike any she had ever known before.

Like lightning, the image Gershom had planted in her mind flashed white-hot. She could see Zach lying there before her as Gershom drained him of his life. As the light that surrounded him faded. As her world grew even darker.

“Zach!” she screamed. She would not let that light be extinguished! She would not let Gershom take from Zach what had been taken from her. She would do anything, anything in the world, to save Zach’s life. She would sacrifice her life, her soul because she loved him that much. Because in the end, nothing mattered but love.

Anya moved quickly, grabbing a piece of the splintered wood from the broken staircase. Locked in a deadly embrace, Zach and Gershom saw her at the same time. Both sensed what she intended to do.

“Anya, no!” Zach yelled.

“I love you,” she whispered.

And the vampire screamed in rage.

Gershom started toward her, but it was too late. She had already flung the board upward with all her might, toward
the skylight. The window smashed into a million sparkling fragments that rained down on them as sunlight poured in through the opening.

Gershom screamed in pain. His clothes erupted in flames as he fell to the floor, writhing in agony. Within seconds, his face had begun to wither, his flesh to shrivel. Before their very eyes, Gershom was returning to dust.

Anya stood in the light, waiting for the fire to consume her. Waiting for the pain. Waiting for death.

What she felt was light. Radiance. Warm, pure sunshine.

Zach rushed toward her. “Get out of the light,” he shouted, but Anya remained rooted to the spot.

She raised her hands and examined them, as if seeing them for the first time. She touched her face, and felt the moisture on her fingertips. Tears. Her tears had been freed.

Zach stood beside her now, staring down at her in wonder.

“What’s happening to me?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” Zach shook his head slowly, never taking his eyes off her. “Can it be over?”

“Oh, Zach, I’m almost afraid to hope,” she said. She touched her cheek again. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve cried? Since I’ve felt my own teardrops? They’ve been locked inside me for so long, and now, suddenly, they’re free. How? Why?”

“I don’t know, Anya. Maybe because Gershom’s dead. Maybe the bond has been severed.” He shrugged helplessly. “I still don’t understand any of this. Even after I’ve seen…what I’ve seen with my own eyes, I still find it hard to believe.”

“But you do believe,” she whispered. “Deep in your heart, you know the truth, Zach. You know what I am. Even if the bond is somehow broken, I’m still tainted. I’ve still been touched by the darkness. I can never truly be free of Gershom’s hold.”

“Gershom’s gone, Anya. He’s dead. And you
are
free. Just like your teardrops.”

“But we can’t be sure, can we?” she asked sadly. “We can never really be sure.”

He captured her face in his hands, gazing down at her with an intensity that took Anya’s breath away. “I’m sure enough,” Zach said, with deep conviction ringing his voice. “I’m sure enough for both of us. Because in the end, all that really matters is love, Anya. Maybe that’s all either of us ever needed. Love. Trust. A little faith in ourselves.” He smiled. “You saved my life, you know. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for me.”

“You were willing to do no less for me,” she said simply.

They stood gazing at the pile of clothing that had once been Gershom. A gust of wind from the broken window whipped at the garments and scattered the ashes.

And like the phoenix rising, something stirred to life inside Anya. Something good and pure rising out of the ashes of evil. Something that seemed like the brightest of promises, the most precious of gifts.

Somehow, with an insight Anya couldn’t explain, she knew a part of Zach would always be with her now, a glorious reminder of the moment when she had finally stepped from the darkness into the light.

She lifted her arms and spun again and again in the light. The sun was dazzling, so brilliant she could hardly see. She stumbled and laughed, and Zach caught her against him, very tightly, very protectively.

Then he kissed her, there in the sunlight. In the glowing promise of a new day. With a new life already forming inside her.

And Anya smiled, hugging her secret close to her heart.

“I can’t…” Anya whispered to the darkness. The wind swirled around her, sweeping her hair over her shoulders like a lover’s tender caress.

He can be yours, Anya. Forever. Take him.

The voice was weaving a diabolical spell, using her pain, her darkest desires, to weaken her.

Take him! See how mad he is with desire for you? He would welcome it!

“I won’t!”

Take him!
screamed the voice.

The wind rushed over her, carrying to her nostrils the warm, sweet scent of blood. She stared down at Zach, her senses reeling. She was staggered by her own desire for him.

One perfect kiss, and he would be hers. She could glory in that one exquisite moment when their hearts would beat together in a perfect union of life and death, a dance so erotic neither of them would notice the pain, the darkness….

EPILOGUE

“I
want to call him David.”

Zach smiled down at Anya and the newborn son she cradled in her arms. Her golden hair fanned out against the pillow, and her blue eyes—eyes the color of a summer sky—sparkled in the brilliant sunlight streaming through the window. Zach thought she had never looked more beautiful.

“David,” he repeated, testing the name. “Any particular reason?”

“Because he’ll grow up strong and good, and someday he’ll slay giants, just like his father.”

Zach lifted her hand and kissed it. “You give me too much credit.”

“Never.” Anya’s eyes glistened with tears. “I could never give you too much credit for what you did for me.”

“Life’s good now, isn’t it?” he murmured. The nightmare had faded, but from time to time, Zach still glimpsed traces of fear in Anya’s blue eyes. Fear that he knew would never go completely away, no matter how hard he tried to vanquish the darkness.

“Life’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Precious. I give thanks every morning.”

Deeply moved, Zach cleared his throat. “So, it’s you and me and David. A real family at last.”

“Don’t forget Karl and Freida. And your parents,” Anya said. “They’re a part of this family, too.”

“Yes,” Zach agreed, “they are.” Over the last few months, Zach had finally made peace with his past. He’d
laid a lot of old ghosts to rest, and it felt good. Real good. “Of course, Dad’s all bent out of shape now that you’ve resigned for good as Renee Alexander’s signature model. He swears we’ll never be able to replace you, and he’s right.”

“It’s time I get back to my poetry, Zach. Besides, you don’t need me anymore,” Anya scoffed. “The Seduction campaign is a tremendous success. The two of you have accomplished miracles with that company.”

“Speaking of miracles, shall we let the grandparents come in and see this one?”

“By all means,” Anya said, gazing down at their little son. “It’s high time they meet David Matthew Christopher.”

Zach caught his breath. “Matthew?”

Anya smiled tenderly. “I can’t think of a more appropriate name, can you?”

“No,” Zach said. “I can’t.” A new life, he thought. A new life rising from the ashes of the past. He placed a finger in the baby’s fist, and the tiny fingers curled around it. “David Matthew Christopher, you’re going to do great things one day, son.”

As though he’d understood every word, the baby opened his beautiful silver eyes and looked solemnly at his father.

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The Graveyard Queen
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AMANDA STEVENS

Every cemetery has a story
.
Every grave, its secrets.